Scoot the Turtle

About a month ago while Matt was mowing the yard, he found a small turtle.  He came inside to tell everyone and wanted us to go outside to see it.  So Mommy, Brazos and Sandy all headed outside to see the little fella. 

When Matt had said "little" I hadn't imagined it to be as little as it actually was.  It could fit in the palm of my hand!  I made the suggestion that we keep it as a pet for Brazos, and Matt must have agreed with me because before I knew it, he dashed into the attic to pull down an empty aquarium.  We filled it with some small rocks and a lid with water.

The next day we searched on the internet what kind of turtle it could be and we discovered that it was an aquatic turtle.  So we dumped out all the tiny rocks and filled the aquarium with water and large rocks for him to crawl onto. 

I'm a name fanatic so of course I couldn't wait to name the turtle.  I tried teaching Brazos to say "Indiana" but that was a bit hard for him.  Daddy blurted out "Scoot," and Brazos shouted "Scoot" with ease, so Scoot it was.

Turtles aren't so slow you know.  Scoot can be standing on his rock sunbathing in the lights, and as soon as I walk into Brazos's room, that little turtle scurries and dives into the water as fast as he can.

We feed Scoot every night and it's pretty amazing to watch the little guy eat.  He'll swim right up to the pellets and eat them right out of your fingers.  Also, if a pellet is too big for his mouth, he'll grab it with his mouth and then push the rest of it off with his little feet, just to make the perfect little piece for him to swallow.

When we clean Scoots water every now and then, he gets the thrill of his life.  We put Scoot in a box for safe keeping {not sure how safe it is...} and Brazos shakes the box like an earthquake.  

Another thrill came from being chased by a flyswatter.  One afternoon I found Brazos standing on a stool with Scoot's aquarium top open and a little boy with a flyswatter dipped in the water and waving it around like crazy.  Never a dull moment!

About a week after we had Scoot, Daddy forgot to put Scoot's food up, so in the middle of the night Brazos decided Scoot was hungry.  The next morning I looked at Scoot's tank and thought, "Wow, Scoot must of had diarreah."  The water was green and I couldn't even see Scoot.  As I got closer I noticed a few pellets still floating in the water and lying on the floor of the aquarium.  Brazos fed Scoot the entire bottle!

I'm hoping Brazos has great memories of his childhood pet, Scoot the Turtle.  I'm thinking he will.